Love in a Village

Love in a Village
Ballad opera (pastiche) by Thomas Arne
1767 oil painting by Johann Zoffany showing Edward Shuter as Justice Woodcock, John Beard as Hawthorn, and John Dunstall as Hodge in Act 1, Scene 2
Librettist	Isaac Bickerstaffe
Based on	Johnson's The Village Opera
Premiere	8 December 1762 (1762-12-08) Covent Garden theatre, London

Love in a Village is a ballad opera in three acts that was composed and arranged by Thomas Arne. A pastiche, the work contains 42 musical numbers of which only five were newly composed works by Arne. The other music is made up of 13 pieces borrowed from Arne's earlier stage works, a new overture was by C. F. Abel, and 23 songs by other composers, including Bishop, Boyce, Geminiani, Giordani, and Galuppi, albeit with new texts. The English libretto, by Isaac Bickerstaffe, is based on Charles Johnson’s 1729 play The Village Opera. The opera premiered at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden in London on 8 December 1762.^[1] One of its best known songs is the Miller of Dee.